In other parts of the world, this message may be confusing, coming after weeks of public health authorities, politicians and media figures confidently claiming masks do not help and urging people instead to focus on washing their hands and maintaining social distancing.

The tone of such claims ranged from condescending to frustrated, with the US Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeting in late February -- in all caps -- "STOP BUYING MASKS!"

"They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk," he added, in a post that has since been retweeted over 43,000 times.

That same week, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), appeared before lawmakers. Asked if people should wear masks, he had a straightforward answer: "No."

Now he's not so sure. On Monday, Redfield said told NPR that the CDC was reviewing its guidelines and may recommend general mask use to guard against community infection. It's likely only a matter of time before other mask holdouts, most prominently the World Health Organization (WHO), follow suit.

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So how come Singapore is doing so well without masks then....................more to do with testing and complying to social distancing and probably faith in their govt a s opposed to others

Singapore is a small country with 5,6 million people and they have a total of 1000 confirmed cases. Many people wear face mask in Singapore and they have a tracing system, helping them to find infected people.

And by the way, how come face mask work on doctors and nurses, and government around the world are talking about how important it is that they have enough mask for the medical people.